Fallen Angels
by dantesdarkqueen
Summary: Kadaj and Yazoo are exploring ShinRa manor when they discover a woman, one of Hojo's experiments. What is Kadaj's intrest in her, beyond his goals for Reunion? Can she keep Mother's enemies from disrupting their plans? What are her powers anyway? KadajXOC
1. Discovery

**Summary: **To put it in a nutshell... Yazoo and Kadaj are searching the old lab complex in the ruined ShinRa building because Kadaj has been told by Mother that there is something of great use to them hidden therein when they come across a woman hibernating in a drug-induced sleep, genetically modified with Jenova cells by Hojo himself in a private experiment. They download all the information on her to their minicomputer, wake her up, and take both her and the file back to their hideout in the Forgotten City. There they discover some very interesting information concerning this woman, Zhaira, and a possible way to bring about another Meteorfall. Can Zhaira actually create another Meteorfall and take them all on a trip to the heavens above as Sephiroth tried to do two years ago? And what is Kadaj's interest in her, an intrest that goes beyond a working relationship?

**Disclaimer: **I don't own FFVII. All I have is a copy of Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus (desperately searching Ebay to remedy that problem, but the prices for Buy-it-Now are OUTRAGEOUS).

**Queen's Quorner: **Normally I only write Devil May Cry fics, but this idea just came out of nowhere - literally! - while I was considering a new storyline for my DMC fics. One minute I'm rolling over ideas in my head for "Happy Anniversary" and the next I'm thinking about Kadaj, Yazoo, and an OC with roots in Soulcalibur 3's Create A Character mode. After much consideration and spare time during last night's Dungeon and Dragons game, this is what erupted from the pen and onto the page. I don't claim to know anything of the specifics from the original FFVII, so all I'm going on here is what I know from AC and DOC, as well as the more common knowledge told to me by friends. Forgive me if I get things wrong; I'm only working with half of the information here. And please be nice to me. This is my first FFVII fic. I'm sorry if certain parts of this come across as prudish; believe me, anyone who reads my DMC fics will know that I normally don't write like that! Things will pick up as the story continues, worry not. I like living up to my ratings.

Fallen Angels

Particles of dust danced through the air, swirling across the debris of power and corruption. A sudden spill of golden stone and powder rustled to the floor as the long-untouched floor above creaked suddenly, a startling end to the eternal silence.

The first it had had in two years.

People had returned to the lab complex of ShinRa manor.

The man whose soft footfalls had disturbed the dust was leather-clad and slender, undeniably handsome and yet somehow much younger in appearance than he truly was. His silken hair, a wealth of molten silver, fell across catlike eyes the exact color of raw mako; he impatiently blew it out of his vision as his brother moved up beside him.

"Tell me again, Kadaj," the other said in a silken monotone. "What are we doing here, in the ruined base of ShinRa's power?" He flicked his long hair, the same shade as the younger's somewhat shorter tresses, behind his shoulder and stroked the pale metal of his Velvet Nightmare, looking around the broken building with unreadable eyes.

"Mother told me there was something of great importance in the ShinRa laboratories. More specifically, it is in Professor Hojo's old labs." Kadaj didn't spare his older brother a look, intent on the mini-computer he held in his hand, examining the digital map he had managed to recover from old files.

"What is so important about it? More than that, exactly what are we looking for?"

"She didn't say anything but 'you will know it when you see it.' Perhaps there are some of Mother's remains buried here. Hojo was, after all, the scientist with the greatest contact with Mother." Kadaj simultaneously ducked and climbed over two fallen steel beams, coming to a stop before an open doorway, the door long since gone. He consulted the small console once more, and nodded in satisfaction, a tiny smile gracing his features. "This is the entrance to Hojo's labs, Yazoo. Whatever we are looking for will be somewhere in here."

"Good." Yazoo followed his younger brother into the complex. "Let's find this...whatever-it-is and get back to the hideout. I am almost afraid to know what Loz has been doing in our absence."

"That is a mental image I neither need nor desire, Yazoo." Kadaj shuddered lightly; Loz was his brother, and he was a powerful fighter, but he otherwise has no like or use for the muscular Remenant. At times, Loz was entirely too _human _for his liking. His latest habit, enjoyed soley by himself, was absolute proof of that; neither Kadaj nor Yazoo would ever do something so base and messy as _touching themselves_. "Come on. Let's see if we can find anything."

The silver-haired men sifted through the complex, searching everywhere for something, _anything_, of use to them. Their search turned up several interesting objects, including the desiccated corpe of a rat, Hojo's private journal (which Yazoo pocketed for later perusal), some empty syringes, and an alarming amount of test tubes and vials with odd-looking remains and encrusted liquids on their insides, but nothing that seemed important enough for Jenova to have taken note.

"Kadaj, are you _certain_ that Mother told you it was in Hojo's labs?" Yazoo finally asked, thinly-veiled frustration evident in his smooth monotone.

"Of course I am, Yazoo! What did you expect, that it would be sitting out in the open with a note saying 'Here are some of Jenova's remains for your long-awaited Reunion, love Professor Hojo?'" Kadaj flung his arms out in frustration as he walked away from his brother, stopping in the exact middle of the central room, spinning to face him with annoyance in his feline eyes. "I don't even know what it is we're looking for, only that it is something Mother told me to look for! If you have any suggestions, I would be _thrilled_ to hear them!"

"I don't know, Kadaj!" Yazoo's temper snapped. "Ask Mother, not me!" He slammed one fist against the wall behind him, needing to get his anger out of his body and express it in full to his younger brother without harming him - Kadaj _was_ the only one Mother spoke to, after all. A palm-sized section of the wall depressed where he punched it; with a surprised yelp, Kadaj fell through the floor.

"Kadaj!" Yazoo flew to the hole in the floor, sliding to his knees and peering into the gloom with anxious eyes. "Kadaj! Answer me!"

"Owww..." The minimal light shining through the sole broken window caught the metallic sheen of silver hair, revealing the youngest Remenant picking himself up off the floor. "What the fuck did you do?"

"I don't know. Probably hit a switch or something. Are you all right?"

"I'm _fine_, Yazoo. Bruised and dusty, but otherwise fine." He limped out of the dimly-lit square, rubbing at a spot on his hip. "I'm going to see if I can find a light switch somewhere."

There were some shuffling and banging noises, accompanied by some muttered curses, and then the dark space was filled with illumination. Yazoo saw a ladder on the opposite side of the hole in the floor extending to the floor below. He swung himself onto it and descended to the new area at a leisurely pace, a smirk playing about his thin lips. "You know, it would have been easier if you had used the ladder."

Kadaj merely glowered at him before spinning and stalking away. "Come on. I think there might be another room down here, if Hojo went to this much trouble to make that entrance."

The Remenants continued down the short hallway, until they reached an intact doorway, one of the very few they had seen during their exploration of the building, a keypad glowing beside it. "This complex must have its own separate power source," Yazoo guessed. "We haven't seen any working electrical equipment up till now."

"It would be something Hojo would do, if what I understand is true. He must have conducted private experiments down here." Kadaj examined the keypad, and pulled a wire from his mini-computer to attach to the keypad. "Judging from the thickness of the steel I passed on my way down here, I'd be willing to be that they were loud. This area is completely soundproof. Here, Yazoo. This is your thing."

"Of course, Kadaj." He moved past his brother and took the console away from him, typing at the small keyboard with practiced expertise. A few seconds later the keypad beeped, and the door slid open. "After you, Kadaj," Yazoo invited, retrieving his wire.

The younger Remenant didn't answer. He merely strolled into the opened room, hitting another light switch as he went.

"Holy... Yazoo?"

"Yes, Kadaj?" He didn't look up, too preoccupied with rolling the wire back up into the computer. The wire was being difficult.

"I think we may have found it." His voice was soft, almost as if he were...in awe.

"What?" The wire finally disappeared back into the mini-computer, and Yazoo joined his brother to stare at the contents of the room. An enormous cylinder stood upright in the center of the room, filled with bubbling green liquid and surrounded by computers, each of them quietly humming, all in perfect working order. Within the liquid was a woman, her hair floating around her in an inky cloud, clothed in a sleeveless white tunic. She was very still, as if she were dead, but the life-support system readings said otherwise. The woman was _alive_.

The brothers were stunned. How had this room survived intact? And what was this woman doing here? These and many other questions swirled within their minds as they stared at the woman and the equipment.

"I think you might be correct, Kadaj. Mother must have been talking about her."

KZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZ

Queen: _Hello all! Normally Dante and Vergil would be here with me during this transmission, but since this isn't their story Kadaj and Yazoo will be taking their usual positions. Besides, they have jobs at the moment. Some kind of demonic infestation over in Washington, DC. _

Kadaj: _Queen, do they even know that you are associating with us? They normally don't let anybody else near you, after all. _

Yazoo: _I'm certain we could take them if they attacked us, but I would just as soon avoid such a confrontation. They can heal much more easily than we can, after all. _

Queen: _Don't worry, I've already told them. They aren't happy about it, but they know next to nothing of Final Fantasy VII either. So they're letting you two take the positions of Commentators for the duration of this fic. _

Kadaj: _Well, that's a comforting thought. _

Queen: _In any case, read and leave reviews please! All authors enjoy knowing what people think of their work. Oh, and by the way, I have a special use for flamers._

Yazoo: _She does one of three things with them. 1) they are used to roast marshamallows, 2) she puts them in the grill and makes us all barbacued ribs, or 3) she pours gasoline on them and dances around them in minimal clothing sometime around midnight. The neighbors' reactions to that last one are always fairly amusing, to say the least._

Kadaj: _Please leave a review? _(makes puppy eyes at the Webcam)

Queen (points at Kadaj): _How could you possibly ignore that face? Enjoy the fic and be kind to me! It's only my first FFVII fic!_

(transmission ended)


	2. Recollection

**Summary: **To put it in a nutshell... Yazoo and Kadaj are searching the old lab complex in the ruined ShinRa building because Kadaj has been told by Mother that there is something of great use to them hidden therein when they come across a woman hibernating in a drug-induced sleep, genetically modified with Jenova cells by Hojo himself in a private experiment. They download all the information on her to their minicomputer, wake her up, and take both her and the file back to their hideout in the Forgotten City. There they discover some very interesting information concerning this woman, Zhaira, and a possible way to bring about another Meteorfall. Can Zhaira actually create another Meteorfall and take them all on a trip to the heavens above as Sephiroth tried to do two years ago? And what is Kadaj's interest in her, an intrest that goes beyond a working relationship?

**Disclaimer: **I don't own FFVII. All I have is a copy of Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus (desperately searching Ebay to remedy that problem, but the prices for Buy-it-Now are OUTRAGEOUS).

Recollection

"Why do you think Mother took such an intrest in her?" Kadaj wondered, moving closer to the tank, to the inanimate woman therein. There was something about her... So familiar, almost the vestiges of a long-forgotten dream...

Yazoo didn't notice his younger brother's transfixtion. He had gone over to the largest computer and was typing away at the keyboard, examining the data on the screen with curious eyes. "These computers should be able to tell us." The ghost of a smile twisted his thin lips. "You'd think a scientist of Hojo's calibur would be able to come up with a better password than 'password'..."

The youngest Remenant lifted one hand and placed the gloved tips softly against the cool glass, staring at the lovely, serene countenance of the sleeping woman. "Any luck yet?"

"No."

Long minutes passed. Kadaj kept staring at the female and Yazoo manipulated the computer to show him anything of interest.

"Hey Kadaj."

"Yeah?"

"Take a look at this." He clicked on a file while beckoning to his brother and leader.

Kadaj managed to tear himself away from the woman and joined his brother at the computer. Scanning the contents of the file, his mako-green eyes widened. "Double mako injections... Notable compatibility with mako treatments and Jenova cells... Subconscious biological manipulation of the treatments..."

"It seems that Hojo was experimenting on her, trying to make her superhuman, but her body did something to the mako, a reaction he had never seen before." Yazoo pulled a connecting wire from his minicomputer and connected it to the larger one. "I'm going to copy the files to my computer. You keep reading."

Kadaj took orders only from Mother, but in this case he was too enthralled to comment on Yazoo's command. He kept reading, his increduality growing with each new entry. _The subject's physical condition is excellent, she is in perfect health with no mutation to speak of thus far... The latest tests have shown that the subject can now run at twice the speed of a normal human being (34 mph as opposed to 17 mph), and her lung capacity has increased. Her stamina, by comparison, should also be double that of a normal human. Further tests are required to prove this theory... Physical strength has increased threefold... Reflexes are near-instantaneous... The subject has displayed a new proficiency with certain types of materia... Her ability to use those swords of hers has improved nearly a hundredfold, almost on a level of swordmastery equal to that of the General... The only physical mutations have appeared within the hair and eyes. There is now a streak of silver hair just above the right ear, extending from the scalp along the entire length of the strands. In addition to that her eyes, previously a shade of black, have developed streaks of green within the irises, a reaction I have never seen before in other test subjects... She has lasted much longer than any of the previous subjects, nearly a year as opposed to the period of two to three weeks of survival my failed subjects averaged..._

After the physical file came another one, Hojo's plans for the woman.

_The subject has been sedated and more of her eggs have been extracted for experimentation. The last batch proved to be failures, dying a few days after insemination. This, I discovered through closer examination, was due to a nutritional deficiency in the artificial wombs I have constructed. It seems that in this case, it would be better to inseminate the eggs and then implant them back into the subject's own uterus for growth. But with the mako treatments, I see no reason why she cannot be given to General Sephiroth for breeding purposes as originally intended. If she breeds with him, perhaps we can finally have natural-born SOLDIERs rather than men treated with mako. If this woman will accept the treatments and the inseminated eggs, carrying a fetus to full term, perhaps we can treat other women in the same fashion. After all, one woman can only give us so many babies before reaching menopause. This woman, Subject 243, is the test; if she can carry a child sired by the General to full term and survive the process, then perhaps we can duplicate the process in another female for the same purposes, a breeding program, as the President desires. As for her other uses... I shall come to that later, once the experiment has proven successful and she has given me my first natural-born SOLDIER... _

"She was supposed to have been Sephiroth's breeding partner?" Kadaj was stunned. He was _jealous_ of a man he had never even met! And that warranted further questioning: what reason did he have to be jealous?

"Seems that way. But apparently there are other abilities she has that Hojo didn't touch on in those files. Maybe with further examination, I can discern exactly what those abilities are." Yazoo removed the connecting wire; his downloading was complete. "Mother couldn't have brought her to our attention for anything other than those abilites, whatever they are. She wouldn't expect us to _breed _with her, would she?"

"I highly doubt it." _But perhaps..._

Kadaj shook his head. What on earth was he _thinking_? "Let's just wake her up and get her back to the Forgotten City. We can question her later, and anyway, she has Mother's cells inside her. She can help us look for Mother." A thought came to him then, a dim memory... "Did you catch her name, by any chance?"

"Yeah. The files say that her name is Zhaira. Can you come here and help me get her out of here?"

"Zhaira..." He knew that name. Before the manor had been destroyed and he and his brothers escaped when their cell block's outer wall collapsed, there had been a girl about his age in the cell next-door for a few days. They had been able to see a little bit of each other through a crack in the wall between their cells, but mostly all they had done was talk to each other. She had said her name was Zhaira, and that she was on her way to the ShinRa building for something. She wouldn't tell him exactly what, no matter how he phrased the question, but he got the idea that she wasn't exactly looking forward to it. But the Zhaira he remembered had had pure black hair and eyes, and she had been shorter than the woman in the tank. She had been a sweet thing, afraid of the ShinRa SOLDIERs Professor Hojo had had guarding the holding cells that held him, Yazoo, and Loz separate from each other and their other siblings, the Jenova cell-injected children of female volunteers, each of them artificially inseminated and planted in various women to carry to full term. The kids that had survived the pregnancy and birth had been brought to ShinRa Manor for close examination; only seven of the original twenty children had survived to reach adolescence. He, Yazoo, and Loz were the only ones still alive today; they had managed to escape before the fires had reached the cells, leaving their less-fortunate siblings to die in the flames.

Zhaira had been a curiosity, because she was not a child of Jenova. She was just a normal kid, fully human but with no parents. She had told Kadaj that her mother had died when she was very young, and her father had taken her to the ShinRa building when they had put out a call for needy children, preferably girls. He had been told that they would take good care of her, but in truth, they had done...

That was when she had always broken off the story. On the last night she had been there, they had managed to wriggle some fingers through the crack and touch each other, linking their fingers together in a kind of promise. A promise that they would not forget each other, that they were friends. Kadaj had only seen her fully one time, when the SOLDIERs had come to take her away the next morning. She had fought the men, screaming that she didn't want to go, for someone to help her, but nobody had come to her aid. The men had finally knocked her out and taken her away like a sack of wet laundry, limp over one of their shoulders. He hadn't seen her since. Now that he had heard her name, he remembered her.

But would she remember him?

Kadaj went to his brother's side. In unspoken agreement, he stood ready to catch the woman when the glass slid away while Yazoo turned off the tank. Power hummed as the wires transmitted his command, the green life-suspension fluid draining away into the floor. The glass cylinder disappeared into the floor just as Zhaira fell forward, still senseless, into Kadaj's arms.

"What do we do now?" he asked, looking at his brother.

"We wait for her to wake up." Yazoo went to the side of the room and sat down, leaning his back against the wall and shutting his eyes. "You might want to take some rest. There's no telling how long it will be before she wakes up."

Queen: _So Hojo and President ShinRa were planning on creating a SOLDIER breeding program, using Zhaira and Sephiroth as the first pair. Oh yes, Zhaira does have other uses - the combonation of Jenova cells and mako in her system ensured this - but so far that's all I'm spilling. Perhaps the General remembers her, and that's why Kadaj is attracted to her, hmm?_

Kadaj: _How the hell am I supposed to know? Ask him!_

Queen: _Ah, but Sephiroth is not here at the moment, now is he? _

Kadaj: _Well I'm not some kind of all-seeing oracle. I can't answer that question. _

Yazoo: _Aww, and here I thought you had all the answers, oh Fearless Leader._

Queen: _Kadaj, don't! _(forcibly removes Souba from his grip)_ Look, just leave a review! It's never a good thing when either Kadaj or Sephiroth get too slice-happy with their swords, and I can't afford new furniture at the moment! Reviews might just calm him down a little!_ (still wrestling with Kadaj over Souba, get a little too close to the computer)

(transmission interrupted)


	3. Awakening

**Summary: **To put it in a nutshell... Yazoo and Kadaj are searching the old lab complex in the ruined ShinRa building because Kadaj has been told by Mother that there is something of great use to them hidden therein when they come across a woman hibernating in a drug-induced sleep, genetically modified with Jenova cells by Hojo himself in a private experiment. They download all the information on her to their minicomputer, wake her up, and take both her and the file back to their hideout in the Forgotten Capital. There they discover some very interesting information concerning this woman, Zhaira, and a possible way to bring about another Meteorfall. Can Zhaira actually create another Meteor and take them all on a trip to the heavens above as Sephiroth tried to do two years ago? And what is Kadaj's interest in her, an intrest that goes beyond a working relationship?

**Disclaimer: **I don't own FFVII. All I have is a copy of Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus (desperately searching Ebay to remedy that problem, but the prices for Buy-it-Now are OUTRAGEOUS).

Awakening

Warmth...

The sensation of touch...

She was warm, and someone was touching her.

The knowledge snapped her out of her stupor. Always before, that combination had meant that she was about to experience terrible pain, the cruel professor's hands treating her as if she was a piece of meat fit for the carving knife rather than a conscious human being. Maybe if she pretended she was still in hibernation, he would leave her alone, put her back in the tank. Hojo never liked it when she didn't respond to his experiments.

The hand traced the length of her profile, the touch soft and gentle. Hojo was feeling especially cruel today. A soft whimper escaped her, despite her efforts at keeping silent.

"Zhaira?"

That wasn't Hojo's voice. Who did it belong to?

"Zhaira, don't be afraid. You're safe now. Hojo is long dead."

Hojo...dead?

Was it possible that her prayers had been answered after so long? Or was this a trick, a hallucination caused by the drugs he constantly pumped into her circulatory system to keep her sedated and maneagable? The only way to find out was to open her eyes, a notion that terrified her.

But still...

She opened her eyes.

KZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZ

Kadaj felt a flash of shock as she opened her eyes, when he beheld the new appearance of her irises. The same midnight black, with tendrils of mako-green shot through to the whites from the pupils. Sure, it had been strange to see that there was indeed a long lock of silver hair bisecting the perfect black of her mane, but seeing those eyes...

It was all the confirmation he needed.

She did indeed have Jenova cells inside her. Not as many as he or Yazoo or Loz, and certainly not as many as Sephiroth must have had, but some. Whoever her parents had been before was now irrelavent. His mother was her mother too. She was his sister.

And at the same time, she was not.

"Who..." She frowned, confused. "I remember you... I think..."

"Zhaira, it's Kadaj. From the manor, remember?" He couldn't keep the hopeful note out of his voice. Why was he hoping that she remembered him?

"Kadaj...?" Her eyes widened, and she jack-knifed upwards, gazing around wildly. "Where are we?"

"Still in Hojo's secret lab. Don't worry; the building has been abandoned for some time now. You're safe."

Her eyes fell on Yazoo, still napping against the wall. "What are you doing here?"

"We were looking for something, and came across you. You've been in suspended animation for at least two years now."

She forced herself to her knees and leaned heavily against the wall as she got into a standing position, her legs shaking like leaves in the wind. "How long has it been since last I was allowed to walk or run?" she mused to herself.

Kadaj rose as well. "Do you need help?"

"I think so. The muscles can't really support my weight too well at the moment." She grabbed his arm, and looked up at him. "You've changed."

"As you have."

"Yeah, I know." She fingered the length of silver hair, her eyes glazed in memory, before shaking her head violently and casting her gaze to Yazoo. "Who's he? Is he your brother? He looks like you."

"He is my brother, Yazoo. His cell was the one one the other side of mine. Yazoo!" he called.

"Hmm?" The older Remanent awoke with a slight jerk. He stretched his arms above his head, strangely reminiscent of a cat, before catching sight of Zhaira, who was staring at him openly. Yazoo grinned. "I see that she finally woke up. That means we can finally get out of this hell-hole."

"The sooner the better." Kadaj had no love for ShinRa Manor either. He had more than a few agonizing memories that had originated in this place...

"Not until I get my weapons." The finality in Zhaira's voice surprised him, and he turned to look at him. Her strangely-colored eyes brooked no arguements, no disobedience. Before Kadaj even knew what he was doing, he had said it.

"Where are they?"

"In the old cell block. They threw them in there and never bothered to get rid of them when they brought me here." Zhaira tossed her head, flipping her hair back over her shoulder so he could see her eyes clearly. "Besides, I want to wear something other than this thing." She gestured at the white, off-shoulder tunic she was wearing. "I despise white."

"We can get you something once we get out of here." Yazoo got up and led the way back up to the main lab complex, helping Kadaj get the woman up the ladder.

"But not until we get my swords."

Kadaj scowled, trying to get angry at her impertinance, but he just couldn't get mad. That baffled him. His temper had never been this slow to rise before. "All right. Let's get your swords, and get the hell out of here. White isn't exactly one of my favorite colors either." White was the color of lab coats; he'd seen far, far too many of those in his life.

He and Yazoo took turns supporting her as they made their way through the depths of the manor, using her fragmentary memories and the computer's map to find their way back to the center of so many of their nightmares...

KZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZ

The holding cell block.

It hadn't changed much since last they had seen it. Some of the cells had collapsed, but most of them were exactly the same as before, albeit with more scorch marks and a smokey scent. A few of the cells had skeletons in them, the final remains of their less-fortunate brothers and sisters, but the windows in the doors were so small that it was difficult to tell if the cells had been occupied or not unless Kadaj got his face as close to the bars as physically possible.

Four of the cells had their outer walls collapsed. Those had belonged to the three Remenants and one other, a sister named Vizata who had died of battle wounds before any of them found a Cure Materia. They had managed to get out, but...

It could have just as easily been someone else's cell.

The idea sent a shiver up Kadaj's spine. If he (or Loz or Yazoo, for that matter) had been placed in a different cell, his skeleton would be rotting in this god-forsaken hell-hole right now. He shook the thought away - he had survived, after all - and turned his attention back to Zhaira.

She looked almost at home here, striding along beside Yazoo (still wobbly, but gaining more control over her long-unused muscles as time passed) without a single glance at the cells around her. She looked like a leader...

His eyes narrowed. He would not allow _any _competition to his position as leader. He was the alpha in the pack, and it would stay that way.

No matter who the challenger was.

KZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZ

Queen: _Ooo! Looks like Kadaj isn't going to stand any power plays from Zhaira, regardless of what he thinks of her! _

Kadaj: _You got that right. I am the leader. _Never_ forget that._

Queen (nervous because Souba is right against her throat): _Don't worry, Kadaj. I'm certainly not going to try anything. _

Yazoo:_ You worry over nothing, Kadaj. She accepts us, but she won't try to take your position in the group. _

Kadaj (putting Souba away): _I suppose you're right. Weak humans and all that_.

Queen (offering sarcastic grin): _You know it! Anyway, read and review, same drill as always. Three chapters and ZERO reviews?! Come on, people! There's gotta be something you want to say about this! Do I have to do something completely insane in order to get your attention, like spontaneously turning Yazoo's hair pink? _

Yazoo (glaring at Queen): _You wouldn't dare. _

Queen: _Of course I wouldn't. You'd kill me if I tried. _

Kadaj: _I just noticed something. You put skeletons in here. There are no skeletons in Final Fantasy VII. _

Queen: _I did that on purpose. Trying to make the scene that much darker. _

Kadaj: _How much darker could it possibly _be

Queen: _I could throw some of your memories in there... _

(Souba's back at her throat again)

Kadaj: _Try it, and I will kill you. Slowly._

Queen (pushes Souba away): _I wouldn't do that to you, Kadaj. I know what it's like to go through painful shit. I won't tell them anything. Don't worry._

Kadaj: _Good. _

Yazoo: _If that's the end of that, I'm going to go on ahead and end this transmission for the day. _

Queen (still having a staring contest with Kadaj): _I think we're done for the day. Shut it off if you wish. _

(transmission ended)


	4. Proper Attire

**Summary: **To put it in a nutshell... Yazoo and Kadaj are searching the old lab complex in the ruined ShinRa building because Kadaj has been told by Mother that there is something of great use to them hidden therein when they come across a woman hibernating in a drug-induced sleep, genetically modified with Jenova cells by Hojo himself in a private experiment. They download all the information on her to their minicomputer, wake her up, and take both her and the file back to their hideout in the Forgotten City. There they discover some very interesting information concerning this woman, Zhaira, and a possible way to bring Cloud over to their side. Can Zhaira actually make Cloud betray his friends and the Planet with her Jenova-given abilities? And what is Kadaj's interest in her, an interest that goes beyond a working relationship?

**Disclaimer: **I don't own FFVII. All I have is a copy of Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus (desperately searching Ebay to remedy that problem, but the prices for Buy-it-Now are OUTRAGEOUS).

**Queen's Quornor: **Ok, this fic is getting a plot change. In thinking things over I realized my original plot would never work. So I'm going to be trying something else. Zhaira can do something really big, can do something that can make things all the easier for the SHM as their Reunion approaches, but it isn't going to be a second Meteor. I'm thinking it will have something to do with a certain 'Big Brother' and the cells inside him... Oh, and please forgive me about the materia names.

Proper Attire

"There you are, my lovelies." Zhaira plucked a pair of swords off the ground, both gleaming silver despite the dust around them. She twirled them experimentally in her hands, put them through a brief, flashy manuever, and smiled in satisfaction. "Still as perfect as ever."

"Those look like powerful weapons," Yazoo murmured. "What are they called? More importantly, what can they do?"

"These blades are special." The woman found a belt in the cornor of the room and hung them in the loops before buckling the leather accessory around her hips. "Heirlooms of my mother's family that I took with me when Father gave me to ShinRa. They both have a materia permanently installed within the hilts, a Lightning and a Fire. This one," she pointed to the one on the right "is Lialadrian, the Blade of Scorching Flames. The other is Zapitan, the Mighty Shock. Each blade channels the power of the materia within when I will them to do so."

"That is indeed powerful." Kadaj looked around, feeling a need to get out of this hell-hole. "C'mon, let's get out of here. This place gives me the creeps."

They made their way out of the manor and back to their motorcycles. Zhaira hesitated, unsure of who to climb on with. Yazoo noticed her dilemma, and patted the back of his seat. "You can ride with me, until we reach town. Our brother should be waiting in Edge for us by now. We can get you some new clothes there."

"Thank you. The kindness is much appreciated." Zhaira slid on behind the slender male, linking her arms tightly around his waist so she would not fall off. Once she was settled, the keys were turned and the brothers were off, speeding across the landscape and away towards Edge. Kadaj, always a reckless driver, had even more near-crashes than usual this time.

He couldn't stop glancing over at Yazoo, or more specifically, Zhaira. She was leaning her head against his brother's back, eyes closed. It looked like she was asleep.

Kadaj thought back to the time he had spent with her in the manor's holding cell block. They were friends, just kids finding comfort in each other through a crack in the wall, whisperingb to each other in the dark of the night so neither would be scared, so they knew they were not alone.

He had never been more afraid than he had been after the SOLDIERs had dragged her away, leaving him shivering in the darkness with no one to talk to.

Zhaira had never really left his mind. Sometimes at night, when he was in pain from the day's experiments or shaking in terror of the nightmare that was his reality, he would imagine she was still on the other side of that crack and whisper to her, telling her what had been done to him, what had made him so afraid. He had often wondered where the SOLDIERs had taken her, what had been done to her that she was so afraid of.

Seeing her now, resting her head against his brother's back, he felt his possessive side spark up.

_Mine. _

He didn't know why Jenova could possibly be interested in her, but taht seemed to matter little next to his need to hold her close and never let her go again.

_Sister?_

_No. She is not a Remnant._

_Then what is she?_

_I don't know._

His chain of thought was abruptly broken when he swerved to avoid yet another head-on collision with a boulder.

ZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZK

"I'll take her to the store. You find Loz." Kadaj grabbed Zhaira's arm and hauled her down the street, away from his brother and thier bikes. "We'll meet back here when our errands are completed."

"Do you need any gil, Kadaj?" Yazoo queried.

"I've got enough." The younger brother waved his free hand over his shoulder, assuring the older Remnant that he had everything under control. "Besides, Linjee will give me a discount. We _are_ her favorite customers, after all."

Yazoo merely answered with one of his patented _hmm_s and went in the opposite direction, going to see if Loz had arrived at the designated spot.

"Where are you taking me?" Zhaira hissed, yanking her arm out of Kadaj's grip.

"Linjee's shop. We can get you some appropriate clothing there." He put his hands on his hips and looked at her. "Or do you want to keep that little rag on?"

"Er... I think I'll take the shop," the woman replied, hearing someone from down the alley they passed whistle a cat-call at her. The white dress-thing didn't leave much to the imagination, that was for certain. Besides, she _hated_ white. "Lead on."

Kadaj just grinned and took her a little further down the street, until they reached a shop called Leather Fetish. "My brothers and I got our outfits done here, along with some other articles of clothing for variety. Linjee, the owner, is basically our personal tailor. She does repairs for us free of charge because we present her a challenge whenever we come in wanting something."

"You get free repairs for _that_?"

"Linjee likes challenges. Most people prefer to just buy things off the racks; anyone who brings her a design and wants it custom-made earns brownie points with her." He pushed open the door and strolled inside, almost arrogantly. "Linjee! I've brought you a customer!"

"Kadaj? Is that you?" A woman popped up from behind the counter, and when Zhaira saw her she barely kept her jaw from hitting the floor. The woman was fairly beautiful, with long purple hair that covered one sapphire eye, leaving the other to gaze at them in amusement. Her ears had numerous piercings, and she noticed that the woman's lip and nose were pierced as well. She resembled exactly what Zhaira might have expected of the owner of a store with a name like 'Leather Fetish,' but for one small thing.

The woman was only a little over four feet tall.

"Yeah, it's me. Nice to see you again, Linjee. Have you gotten that tattoo you were talking about yet?" He didn't seem to mind that the store owner's head barely came up to his chest.

"Yes, I have." She turned her back to him, displaying a tattoo of a brilliantly-colored butterfly gracing one shoulderblade, perfectly visible above her shiney red leather corset. "Now, what can I do for you?"

"I'd like you to outfit a friend of mine with appropriate attire. You see, she was robbed on the streets while coming to visit my brothers and I, and the men who attacked her were cruel enough to steal even the clothes off her body. I feel some responsibility for this outrage, as she was on her way to our home, so I'm paying for her clothes." Zhaira fought not to look at him, to give away the lie. Where did he learn to tell a falsity like that so convincingly?

"Any idea who it was?" Linjee cracked her knuckles loudly. "I can track 'em down and get your stuff back for you, if you want, Ms...?"

Oh, she wanted her name. "Zhaira. My name is Zhaira. And no, I don't know who they were. It all happened so quickly..."

Linjee didn't seem to notice the woodeness of her voice. She merely nodded, and ducked down again, this time popping back up with measuring tape in hand. "Well then, Zhaira. Let's go to the back room and get your measurements, all right?"

While Linjee was busy with the woman, Kadaj wandered around the shop, examining the objects displayed on shelves and racks with minimal interest. His mind was occupied with what Mother could possibly have seen in Zhaira to call her to his attention. Yes, she had Mother's cells inside her, but so did Big Brother. What could Zhaira do that would be of use to them?

_She was genetically altered to serve as a breeding partner for Sephiroth,_ he reminded himself. _That was her main purpose. From the sound of it, her secondary purpose was something along the lines of SOLDIER, possibly First Class. But a lot of people were altered with mako for that. Not all of them made it, but there were still a lot of them. There's got to be something in those files, something really special. But what?_

"OK, I think I have something that will work." Linjee bustled out of the fitting room with a clipboard in hand, furiously scribbling something down on the paper. "There's a piece I was working on that was not paid for, and the woman who ordered it never came to pick it up. I can have it custom-fitted in just a short-while. Do you want the cross-straps on her outfit as well?"

"Yeah." _She's gotta look like she belongs. _

"Very well. I'll have it out in just a few minutes." She disappeared into the back, adding something to the clipboard.

"Good." He turned his attention back to the stilletto-heeled boots lined up against the wall. A couple of them, he noted idly, had metal sheaths on the heels. Well, maybe he'd look into getting something like that if he ever outgrew his own boots.

He wandered around the shop for a while, examining the latest styles and accessories, until Linjee came back to the front of the store and entered the fitting room, holding something black in her arms. Curious, he wound his way around the racks until he was close enough to the room to hear the conversation going on within.

"Why are these bits cut out?"

"That is what the woman ordered. She had some tattoos on her sides she wanted to show off, and this outfit was meant to serve that purpose. I know they looks a little stupid, but this was the only thing I have that matches your measurements. If you have the gil, I could custom-make another suit for you..."

"No... This one is just fine. I wouldn't want to ask too much of Kadaj and his brothers."

There was a pause, followed by a zipping sound, and then Linjee spoke up. "You know, this piece looks really good on you. Almost as if it was made for you instead of that hussy." Kadaj heard some clipping sounds, like a pair of snaps being pressed together. "The cut-outs really emphasize your waist. I swear, the men are going to be following you around going 'damn, she's fine!' You'll need to beat them off with a stick when they catch sight of you."

The comment made Kadaj bristle. It was irrational to think so, but Zhaira was _his_. Nobody else was going to lay a finger on her without his say-so, not even his brothers. Not even Sephiroth, if he were still alive. Which he wasn't.

Zhaira laughed softly, a beautiful sound. "I won't need a stick. I have my babies here for that."

"Wow. Yeah, those'll get the job done. Yes, that outfit is very flattering on you, but it still needs a few things."

"Like what?"

"Some boots, a pair of gloves, and a belt or loop or something to hold those blades of yours. They really aren't that long, are they? Only about eighteen inches. Hmm... I think you can get away with modified thigh holsters; your legs are certainly long enough to carry them comfortably. Wait here for a second." The woman rushed out of the fitting room and over to the shelves. She grabbed a pair of gloves, high-heeled boots, and some long straps, all of black leather, and returned to her current victim. "Put these on, and let's see if we can't make something to hold your babies with these."

There was relative silence for a while, save for the noise of zippers and a knife slicing through leather. "There. Try putting them in these loops I've made."

"They're kinda high up the leg, aren't they? Can't they be shoved down a little?"

"No. Unless you want the blades to get tangled up in your ankles, that is."

"Fine. Hey, they fit perfectly! And it doesn't look that bad either!"

"No, it doesn't. In fact, I think those thigh-straps really make the outfit. Come on, let's show your friend and see if he approves." The curtain was shoved aside and Linjee stepped out, followed by Zhaira. "Well? What do you think?"

Kadaj found speaking a bit difficult. The leather garb suited the woman to a T, form-fitting to her curves with long sleeves and a high neckline. There were panels cut out on the sides so her ribs and the upper swell of her hips were naked, but the back and front retained the original connecting leather. The outfit was held closed by a zipper up the front, and there were leather cross-straps across her chest and upper back, just as with he and his brothers. Furthermore, the boots Linjee had chosen made her seem even taller, her legs all the longer. Her swords were held flush to her thighs by a pair of leather straps, and the tailor had been correct; the metal of the blades really did make Zhaira look all the more dangerous and appealing.

She was looking at him shyly, awaiting his approval. The silver-haired male managed to work up enough spit to moisten his mouth, and thus got his words out. "You look perfect, Zhaira. Like you belong with us."

"Thank you... Kadaj." Her voice was soft. Even with his acute sense of hearing, he had to strain to understand her.

"You're welcome."

"Well, I'm glad you like it. I know every man in Edge is going to be staring when she passes by, that's for certain." Linjee bustled up to the counter and began punching numbers into the register. The total price for Zhaira's new look was staggering, but Kadaj had enough gil to cover it. As they walked out of the store, Zhaira leaned in close to him.

"Where did you get that much gil?"

Kadaj smiled lazily, a predator's satisfaction. "Don't ask. You wouldn't like the answer."

He felt, more than saw, the woman's shudder and knew it was, despite all indicators to the contrary, not of revulsion.

It was excitement.

KZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZKZ

Queen: _Yeah, I'm still alive. Sorry if this chapter sucks. I have so many ideas for this story swirling around in my head, but they mostly concern later chapters. That's why it took me so long to put this chapter up; I'm having problems figuring out how to get the plot to go where I can use those ideas._

Kadaj: _Which is why the plot is getting such a major revamp. She's finally gotten her paws on a copy of Final Fantasy VII, and figured out that it would be near-impossible for Zhaira to command another Meteor by herself, genetic alterations aside. _

Yazoo: _At least Loz and I show up in the next chapter. From the earlier bits of this chapter, I can easily see a love triangle coming into existence here. _

Queen: _That possibility is being taken into consideration. However, to see if it does come into being, you'll just have to read it for yourself. I can tell you, however, that sooner or later there will be some smut in here. I take full advantage of the M rating, no matter what fandom I'm currently writing in. _

Kadaj: _You mean I actually get laid for once? YES!!!_

Yazoo: _She might mean me, brother. _

Queen (smiling evilly): _We shall see, my friends. We shall see. Now to the readers still partaking of this nonsense, leave a review in the proper area, please! An author likes to know how her fic is doing in the eyes of the people, you know! Does this suck? Does this succeed? Tell me!_

Yazoo: _Or you'll be getting a bullet in an extremely sensative location._

Queen: _Yazoo, please don't threaten the readers. We have laws against that, you know. _

Kadaj: _Out of curiosity, what can he do? I mean, you locked up his Velvet Nightmare!_

Queen: _True, but I also know that he can use other guns just as well as that one. Until next time... _

Kadaj: _Leave a review, and we'll see you around!_

(transmission ended)


	5. Origins

**Summary: **To put it in a nutshell... Yazoo and Kadaj are searching the old lab complex in the ruined ShinRa building because Kadaj has been told by Mother that there is something of great use to them hidden therein when they come across a woman hibernating in a drug-induced sleep, genetically modified with Jenova cells by Hojo himself in a private experiment. They download all the information on her to their minicomputer, wake her up, and take both her and the file back to their hideout in the Forgotten City. There they discover some very interesting information concerning this woman, Zhaira, and a possible way to bring Cloud over to their side. Can Zhaira actually make Cloud betray his friends and the Planet with her Jenova-given abilities? What are Jenova's reasons for telling her puppets to track her down and aid in her Reunion rather than their own? And what is Kadaj's interest in her, an interest that goes beyond a working relationship?

**Disclaimer: **I don't own FFVII. All I have is a copy of Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus (desperately searching Ebay to remedy that problem, but the prices for Buy-it-Now are OUTRAGEOUS).

**Queen's Quornor: **This fic is still partially on hiatus, but here's a new one for you anyway. I have several fics I really, really need to update, and this is the oldest non-finished one. I can't promise when the next chapter will be out, but I do know where I want this fic to go now. The plot has gotten yet another revamp, and this one is the final one. Read on!

Origins

True to Linjee's predictions, Zhaira had to deal with the increased attentions of various male passerby. Wolf-whistles, appraising once-overs, lewd comments, turning heads and pauses, even reaching hands came her way, much to the annoyance of both her and Kadaj.

The woman slapped another hand away from her naked side, almost breaking the man's wrist with the force of the light hit. "How long do we have to stay here?" she asked the silver-haired male beside her, green-streaked black eyes flashing irritation.

Kadaj felt his skin prickle; the force of her anger was palpable. Literally. He could feel little electrical currents dancing along his nerves, growing stronger by increments as her irritation rose.

"We'll leave as soon as we meet up with Loz and Yazoo," he assured her. Calming her down down was an absolute necessity; too much more electricity and he would look like he had stuck Souba in an electrical outlet!

"And where are they?" she demanded, planting her hands onto her waist, nails digging into her naked hips. Kadaj flinched as the shocks increased for a moment before fading, albeit slowly.

In answer, he whipped out his cell phone and punched in Yazoo's number, putting the phone to his ear and waiting for his brother to pick up.

At the same time, he kept an ear out for the distinctive ringtone. All three of them had downloaded songs off the InterWeb for their phones, unique ringtones they could use to identify each other if necessary. Loz had a triumphant, happy tune (Kadaj _hated _that song) on his phone. Kadaj had chosen a dark, sinister song with an ominous, ringing bell for his, and Yazoo and downloaded a repetitive, catchy tone. He didn't hear the rington in question; his brother was still some distance away.

After two rings, the phone clicked on. "Yes?" came his older brother's voice, drifting quietly through the earpiece.

"Where are you?"  
"Near the bikes. I found Loz."  
"Where was he this time?"

"A strip bar. Were else?"  
Kadaj rolled his eyes heavenward. Loz could be so _human _sometimes! "Zhaira has new clothes. We'll be there in a few minutes." The phone was shut and put away, and the silver-haired male looked at his companion. "They're waiting for us at the bikes."

"Good. The sooner we get out of this hell-hole, the better." She started walking in the direction of the motorcycles, Kadaj catching up to her a moment later. Looking at the statuesque, willowy female, he felt the need to converse with her. Where _had _she come from, anyway?

"So... You said you were from Midgar?"

Zhaira nodded. "Sector 5 slums. My mom was from that area, and dad moved in from Sector 6 when they got married." Her face softened in memory. "I was the fourth of seven children. My oldest brother, Eaen, started working in the Market as soon as he got old enough, and Isis followed on her tenth birthday. Nashthera got a job as an errand girl up on the plate, and their gil helped pay off the bills when first I, then Zolthen, was born. Dad and Mom both worked at the Honey Bee Inn. Dad worked with drinks, and Mom was one of the girls. Neither of them liked it, but it paid well, and with my siblings' gil we were kept fed and clothed with a roof over our heads. We didn't have much, but we were happy.

"Then we got really lucky. Isis had always been the genius in the family, and when she finished slum-school she got a job with Shinra. She worked in the Science Department, and she brought in a lot of gil. Dad was able to quit his job and take care of us, but Mom kept working at the Inn. She wanted to send me and Zolthen to a school up on the plate, so we wouldn't have to spend our lives in the slums. But she had to stop for awhile when she got pregnant with the twins, Surya and Sileste. Once she was able, she went back to work.

"And everything went to hell."

Kadaj watched Zhaira heave a sigh and shove a hand through her inky hair, pulling at the silver streak unconsciously. "First Eaen got hit by a truck outside the Market on his way back home, completely run over. Then Nashthera had an affair with her employer's son and ran away with him; we never did find out what happened to her. Isis stopped coming home, eventually cutting off all contact with us, apart from sending the gil every month. Mom got beaten to death in her room at the Inn, and Dad started drinking to deal with losing her. Zolthen and I were left to take care of the twins while he went boozing, and we were just kids ourselves. We had no idea how to take care of a pair of three-year-old twins. But it turned out we didn't have to, in the end.

"Sileste caught a fever, and Surya got sick too. Sileste managed to survive, but her sister died. It was around this time that Shinra began calling for young, healthy children, especially girls. Dad needed money for his habit, and they were offering good gil for each child they took. So one day he came home, grabbed all three of us, and said we were going to see Isis. When we got up to the building, we wer examined by doctors. Sileste and I were approved and paid for. Zolthen was not."

She sighed again. "That was the last time I ever saw either one of them. Dad took Zolthen away, and Sileste got separated from me when we were taken inside."

Kadaj waited for her to continue, but it seemed her monologue was at an end.

"Zhaira," he finally ventured. "Do you have any idea what they were looking for? Why they chose you?"

She shrugged. "Something about me 'holding the key.' But I have no idea what they meant by that."

They turned the cornor, and his brothers came into view, leaning against their bikes. As they approached, Kadaj vowed to look over the research notes Yazoo had downloaded as soon as they got back to the base.

_What did they mean by 'she holds the key'? More importantly, to what lock does that key belong?_

_And how does that apply to the Reunion?_

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Queen: _Please don't kill me! Yes, I know it's been awhile since this has been updated, but I've been busy, I haven't been able to figure out how to write what I wanted to say..._

Kadaj: _Stop multitasking!_

Yazoo: _She's female. That's bred into her sex, a habit as old as time that is impossible to break her of. Don't waste your time with that, Kadaj._

Sephiroth: _I must admit, I like the songs you picked out for their cell phones. "The Turks' Theme" for Yazoo, "Those Chosen by the Planet" for Kadaj... Suits them perfectly, I believe._

Queen: _Yeah, well... I tried. Wait a minute. What are you doing here, Seph? You aren't in this fic!_

Kadaj: _Why didn't you give me "Jenova Absolute?" That's the song I wanted!_

Yazoo: _When exactly are you planning on getting back to this fic full-time Queen? _

Sephiroth: _Questions, questions. There's a completely reasonable explaination for everything._

Queen: _And that would be...?_

Sephiroth: _Well, it's - _

(static crackle)

(transmission interrupted)


End file.
